A Little Piece of ‘Times Gone By’

Monday, March 26, 2012 – We got an early start this morning, pulling out of the Good Sam Rally at 6am – did not have to wait in a line of RVs leaving….and the traffic out of Phoenix was not too bad. Our destination-- Grand Canyon Caverns RV park, just out of Peach Springs, AZ.

Grand Canyon Caverns are located along a section of historic Route 66…….

A wonderfully quiet change of pace…….

With a little bit of nostalgia…..

Does anyone remember Burma Shave?………

Arriving at the Caverns, we were tickled to find a very 1950’s atmosphere, along with a nice, clean and quite RV park.

After settling in, we took the cave tour….

These caverns are the largest dry caverns in the United States. They have most of the usual features of caves…..

And a few features that are a bit more unusual…..These caves are so dry that no animals…not even bacteria….can live in them. There have been a few unfortunate accidents where animals may have fallen in and died. The dry air mummified the Bob Cat on the left, who they believed fell in around 1850. On the right is a reconstructed model of a 4 toed tree sloth from the Ice Age. Its bones were found in the cave as it was excavated for the public. This sloth is 15 feet tall!

The Cavern Inn also has the world’s only (their claim) Cavern Suite.

Yes, you really can stay down there. After the last tour at 5pm, they serve you dinner, and you have to stay there until the first tour in the morning. And…yes, there is a bathroom.

Also, thanks to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, all caverns were designated bomb shelters. Emergency rations were brought in and stored. Water is in the black barrels, food supplies in packages in front of them. There are enough rations (supposedly) for 2,000 people (the population of the area at the time) for 2 weeks. The supplies have never been refurnished….and it is too expensive to remove them…so there they sit…..stale water and food stuffs (actually, they only supplied crackers and hard candy)! Last year, with all the unrest in the world, the owners of the caverns brought down bottled water….just in case……

Oh my goodness…..after the crowds at the RV Rally……this place, where we are the only camper in the lot, is just what we needed. Peaceful, quaint, kitschy……and quiet. After the cave tour, we stopped by the café for a piece of homemade coconut cream pie…..Yummy!

Back at our camper, we took some time to double check our backpacks and other gear. Tomorrow morning we will get an early start and drive to Hualapai Hilltop, the trailhead to the town of Supai, at the bottom of this section of the Grand Canyon. We will hike the 10 miles down on Tuesday, spending two nights at the campground, before hiking back out on Thursday. A long hike, but we have been told that the waterfalls in Havasu Canyon are well worth the effort. I promise lots of pictures…….   : )